before pic's from store room . . .

So Saturday was a great success!!  Sister Sarah came over and really got my ass in gear and we totally organized and got rid of tons of stuff for the upcoming yard sale!!  Here's the before pics . . .

After pics are on the way!!

organization quest continues . . .

So tomorrow is a big day here at my house - we are all finally healthy enough for my sister to come over and help me clean out the storage area in our basement!!  Yippee!!  We are going to gut the shelves, throw crap away, put the keeper stuff in clear, labeled, organized bins!  I can't wait!!  I will post before and after pictures - this is going to be amazing!!

ARGH!

Why does it seem that kids only get sick at night?!?  My big guy spent all of sunday night vomiting - I felt so bad for him - but now I feel bad for me, because a night w/o any sleep put me in a reduced immune response to catch that damn virus that made him vomit all night!  But - I get sick in the morning, right after hubby goes off to work . . . ARGH!  I just want to curl up in about 4 blankets and snooze all day, but alas!!  I have my little guy who wants to play trains . . . I guess I'll suck it up and be Percy . . . chugga, chugga, choo-choo!

This and that . . .

Had a phenomenal weekend away with some girlfriends, doing tons of scrapbooking, chatting and snacking!!  Really had a lovely time, and learned tons of things to do on the Cricut machine!! 

One thing I did cook recently was on Friday, before I left.  I had found a recipe for a turkey breast roast in the crock pot.  I had some of the leftovers on Sunday when I got back, and OMG - it was delicious!!  Really simple . . . http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/slow-cooker-turkey-breast/Detail.aspx.  Used some in quesadillas yesterday for dinner, and put the rest into the freezer for a casserole later in the week. 

On Saturday, at the crafting retreat, I made Swiss chicken casserole for dinner for everyone - I thought it came out delicious!! 

Swiss Chicken Casserole

2 1/2 cups Stove Top stuffing Mix, divided
6 chicken breast halves
salt and pepper
2 tsp olive oil
6 slices swiss cheese
1 can cream of chicken (or celery or mushroom)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup white wine

Preheat oven to 350 deg.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch pan, set aside. 

In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups of water to a boil.  Add 2 cups of stuffing mix, mix well, remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes.  Spread stuffing evenly on bottom of 9 x 13 inch pan.

Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper to taste.  Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat and lightly brown chicken breasts on both sides.  Arrange chicken in 9 x 13 inch pan.  Cover each piece of chicken with 1 slice of swiss cheese. 

In a separate bowl, mix soup, sour cream and wine thoroughly.  Pour sauce over chicken evenly.  Sprinkle with remaining stuffing mix.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and cheese is melted.

NOTE:  you can just arrange raw chicken into the casserole, but be sure you bake it 45-50 minutes. 

cooking in bulk . . .

One thing that I have been doing for a while now is cooking in bulk.  I can't stand store-bought frozen meatballs - so I make a huge batch of homemade ones and freeze them in dinner-sized packages for a quick and easy meal.  I make them generically spiced, so you can make them italian-style with a jar of marinara, asian-style with teriyaki and hoisin sauce, or even bbq-style with a bottle of your favorite sauce.  I throw them frozen into a small crock-pot, cover with the sauce and cook on high for 3-4 hours.  AND here are the best parts:
1.  These are extremely healthy - baked, not fried - and low in fat, high in fiber. 
2.  These are CHEAP, CHEAP, CHEAP!  Only $2.60 for 10 - 2" meatballs, enough for us for dinner and maybe a leftover sandwich the next day!! 
3.  For one hour's work, you get 10 meals - yes, that is 10 meals! 

Meatballs in bulk
5 lbs 90% lean ground beef
2.5 lbs 93% lean ground turkey
2 lbs ground pork
2 cups freshly ground bread crumbs (see note below)
1.5 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
3 cups low-fat milk
6 eggs, lightly beaten
1 large onion, peeled and quartered
2 shallots, peeled and halved
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 bunch italian parsley, stems removed
1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F.  Line 3 large baking sheets with foil.  Lightly spray foil with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor or even a blender, process the oatmeal until it resembles small crumbs.  Set aside.

In a LARGE mixing bowl (really big folks) put all the ground meats.  If you don't have one big enough, use two and divide the different types equally between them. 

In a second bowl, place breadcrumbs and oatmeal crumbs, milk and eggs.  Mix well and set aside for at least 10 minutes.

Go back to your food processor and add the rest of the ingredents EXCEPT the parmesan. Process until everything is very finely chopped.  Add this mixture, along with the parmesan, to the breadcrumb/milk mixture.  Mix well. 

Now comes the fun part.  You need to add the breadcrumb mixture to all of the meat.  If you are using one bowl, just dump it in, and use your hands to mix it well (don't forget to take your rings off!!) If you are using two bowls, try to divide it equally and mix away.  If your hands start to freeze (mine do) take a break and warm them up under some warm running water.  After you have it mixed pretty well, you can dump the whole thing onto a large jelly roll pan and mix it some more, like kneading bread.  You really want it to be uniformly mixed. 

Once you are happy with your mixture, now comes the scooping.  I use a 2" ice cream scoop and level each scoop before placing onto the baking sheets.  This gives the balls a flat side, which makes it easier for my kids to cut them!  Put them about 1/4 inch apart and fill the cookie sheet.  I get 7 rows of 5 on my sheets.  Once the sheets are full, place them in the oven for 25 minutes, or until firm to the touch.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Divide into freezer bags and freeze until ready to use. 

Makes about 10 lbs of meatballs (about 100, 2" meatballs)

NOTE:  I haven't bought breadcrumbs in about 4 years now.  I make my own using stale bread, buns, whatever I have laying around, and keep it in a bag in my freezer.  Just throw everything in a food processor, and pulse a few times to start the breakdown, then run about 3-4 minutes on high to get fine crumbs.  Don't worry about removing any crusts - it's all good.  I think 3-4 slices of fresh loaf bread will give you about 1 cups of crumbs, so try 3 and see what you get, you can always do more!  I use these crumbs for everything, and what a difference in taste and texture versus the store-bought kind! 

You can also use this mixture to make meatloaves (divide into 2 lbs packages) or burgers (pan-fry, cover with marinara and mozzarella cheese for an awesome pizza burger!)

doing little things . . .

Been trying to do something little each day toward my quest of being organized . . . today it was taking my craft boxes and resorting and labeling them - now I can see what I have where just with a glance!  Trying to redo my office area is coming along slowly - there are times when I wish at had a "bewitched" nose . . . but I think the process is just as important as the end result - I'm really working on figuring out what I actually need versus what I may want . . . how do you figure out what to keep and what to get rid of?  I was watching that new Peter Walsh program on OWN the other day and he said something that struck me profoundly (paraphrasing) "There are two groups of people - those have have memories attached to things, and those who think they might need it someday . . . the first group lives in the past, the second in the future - when are you going to live in the NOW?!?"

New Page . . .

Under the "Pages" heading, I posted my grocery list that I print out and use.  I have it formatted into a word document with 5 columns, so it fits on one sheet, but the blog won't let me post it that way . . . feel free to copy, paste and update for your own needs!!

Must share this recipe . . .

I just finished the last of this for breakfast, that is how much I LOVED IT!!  I made it for New Year's so I could get my black-eyed peas in for good luck!!  Really healthy alternative to sour cream based dips, and super delicious!! 

Texas Caviar

Ingredients:

2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed

2 (15-ounce) cans whole kernel corn, drained

1 (10-ounce) can Rotel tomatoes, drained (I like the mexican one)

1 cup finely chopped orange, red or yellow bell pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (ribs and seeds removed)

1/4 cup finely chopped yellow onion

¼ cup finely chopped green onion tops

Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

2 tsp dried cilantro (or 1 tbsp chopped fresh)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp smoked paprika

Pinch dried oregano

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Corn chips, for serving (I like Baked Tostitos Scoops!)

Directions

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients.

In a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the dressing. Shake until the ingredients are blended.

Add the dressing to the pea mixture and stir gently but thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.  This tastes best when allowed to marinate several hours before serving.

Organization SUCKS!!

Well, at least getting organized does.  I love when things are actually organized and put away, but the process bites!!  I'm looking for tips and hints people!!  How do you keep things organized?  

I ordered a book today from AMAZON - Organize Now!: A Week-by-Week Guide to Simplify Your Space and Your Life" Jennifer Ford Berry; Hardcover-spiral; $11.55.  From what the reviews said, it was really helpful . . . seriously people, I feel like I'm drowning in stuff and toys and more stuff!!  Not like I'm a hoarder or anything - my floors are clear, but open a cabinet (cover your head) or drawer, and it's a hoarder nightmare, at least in my eyes. 

I'm panicked about keeping receipts - I keep them all . . . what do you do with yours?  Do you keep them all?  Only big purchases? Gas? Groceries?  How do you organize them?  I put them in a big accordion folder by month, then at the end of the year, put put them all together in a big folder and keep them for one more year, then toss them.  So now, I'll throw away the 2009 receipts - is that too much/too long? 

ARGH! 

Day One of the quest . . .

So far so good today . . . sort of.  I didn't start out with any kind of plan, other than to clean everything I saw and start putting Christmas stuff away.  I juiced 11 oranges for breakfast tomorrow.  Swiffered the kitchen floor (friends coming over tonite).  Did two loads of laundry. Saw crumbs on the counter behind my mixer, pulled it out and then frantically cleaned backsplash tiles from corner to behind the sink.  I get ont hese crazy rants with no rhyme or reason.  I think I need to figure out a plan.  I need a schedule to live by, like the old nursery rhyme . . .

Here We Ro 'Round the Mulberry Bush . . .

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

The mulberry bush, The mulberry bush.

Here we go 'round the mulberry bush,

So early in the morning.

 

These are the chores we'll do this week,

Do this week, Do this week.

These are the chores we'll do this week,

So early every morning.

   

This is the way we wash our clothes,

Wash our clothes, Wash our clothes.

This is the way we wash our clothes,

So early Monday morning.

 

This is the way we iron our clothes,

Iron our clothes, Iron our clothes.

This is the way we iron our clothes,

So early Tuesday morning.

This is the way we scrub the floor,

Scrub the floor, Scrub the floor.

This is the way we scrub the floor,

So early Wednesday morning.

 

This is the way we mend our clothes,

Mend our clothes, Mend our clothes.

This is the way we mend our clothes,

So early Thursday morning.

  

This is the way we sweep the floor,

Sweep the floor, Sweep the floor.

This is the way we sweep the floor,

So early Friday morning.

 

This is the way we bake our bread,

Bake our bread, Bake our bread.

This is the way we bake our bread,

So early Saturday morning.

This is the way we get dressed up,

Get dressed up, Get dressed up.

This is the way we get dressed up,

So early Sunday morning.

We'll see what I can come up with that works.